After climbing the stairs past a rather menacing life-sized wall decal of soldiers, I reached the lobby, where the “Into the Pixel” show began. The first room may have been my favorite, where guests were greeted by a huge and amazingly-detailed statue. Apparently he didn’t bother the man serving wine right next to him, though.The remainder of the second floor had huge wall decals made from the “Into the Pixel” winning pieces. I can’t say I loved the decal look, but there were some amazing pieces of art. And considering that most of them were created digitally anyway, I suppose a wall decal could be a fitting medium for them.

What was fun, was to see the artwork behind the video games – the basis for those scenes you usually end up running past, seeing on the screen for 2 seconds, or just never get a good look at because you’re focused on the enemy you’re struggling to kill. But it’s what sucks you into that game environment, and it was nice to be able to take a longer look at the attention these people put into their art.

The hallways were pretty narrow, but there was art everywhere, leading you from floor to floor, and wandering down the halls to the rooms where Super7 and 3 Fish Studios had their pop-up shops (in the Tricia Choi and Shepard Fairey rooms, respectively). Especially worth checking out are Super7’s 2-foot tall Stormtrooper and 3 Fish Studios’ linocut prints of video game controllers made for this event.

Giant Robot, Gallery 1988, and Project One had loaned out art pieces as well, which were some of my favorites. Giant Robot opened their “Game Over III” show the following night, which included some of the pieces they had here. Based on their selection, the “Game Over III” show definitely looks worth checking out.

San FranPsycho had taken over the Maya Hayuk room and not only had their wares for sale, but were live screen-printing for anyone who brought a shirt. They had a variety of screens to choose from, including a design they’d created just for the show. They printed on my white t-shirt in black, with silver foil on the keyboard.

The fourth floor was dedicated to art from the making of EA’s Dante’s Inferno. What I liked about this showing was how they had the original art printed on canvas, next to the publicity shots (one for each sin) printed on wall decals. It made me realize how much detail we take for granted when something’s presented to us commercially.

The show is up at the Hotel des Arts through April, and although you won’t be able to experience one of my favorite parts – seeing the painted rooms – you are able to wander the halls of art. It’s such an interesting experience to be immersed into this world of video game art but standing in a restored 1909 hotel. Just be careful on those stairs if you’ve got big feet like I do – they’re curving and tiny!

]]> http://iheartcoolstuff.com/2010/03/scene-video-game-art-show/feed/ 0 http://iheartcoolstuff.com/2010/03/scene-shin-tanaka-night/ http://iheartcoolstuff.com/2010/03/scene-shin-tanaka-night/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:24:17 +0000 saki http://iheartcoolstuff.com/?p=3952

Last week, I shared I’d be attending New York-Tokyo and Frank’s Chop Shop party in honor of Shin Tanaka. The art of paper toys (not origami– although I also appreciate that form of art too) have been a quiet hobby of mine for a while now– and it’s always intrigued me how artists come up with the templates. Having the opportunity to meet Shin Tanaka, one of the biggest names in this movement was a true delight for me. Check out the rest of the post for more photos from the night.

When we first entered B-East, the floor plan lead us down a flight of stairs (although there is an entrance on street level), and were greeted by a friendly coat check staff. The second we moved past the coat check, onto the long narrow hallway leading to the main bar floor, I focused on the music blasting. I immediately fell in love with the space. The brick wall, the plants and vines hanging down, the lighting, it made for a great ambiance. As soon as I spotted the stairs, I proceeded to make my way to the second floor where I knew Shin was located.

Although I don’t know too much history of this medium, Shin Tanaka’s name is one that is constantly coming up in conversations and google searches. As soon as I arrived to the location, I knew I had to introduce myself to him and see if I could get some insight on his process. Sadly, the language barrier didn’t really leave room for that, so I just used facial expressions to tell him how much I dug his paper toy creations. That’s him above, and I’m holding his Chibby design. Meg and I both agreed that it was our favorite of all his designs.

Once the meet and greet was done, I took in the rest of the set up. Shin’s paper toys were sitting in plain sight for all to rest their eyes on them. I especially loved how the toys and vinyl figures looked in the candle lit tables, so I just rearranged them to catch photos of them. I’ve yet to actually complete one of Shin’s paper toys, therefore I don’t know how challenging they are– but they are much bigger then I had anticipated. I loved them!

The wall between both floors hosted a large screen projector which featured the works of Shin Tanaka. If you were a stranger to this scene, this definitely helped clue you in.

This is a slightly blurry shot of the top floor decor. Those lighting fixtures are fabulous. I rarely ever use the word fabulous, but I even took a close-up shot of it. I loved the shape– it reminded me of an atom– but that could just be me.

The event details also promised there would be live art, and it was one of the first things I asked about when I met Shin. Like I mentioned, I wanted a glimpse of his process, so I wanted to make sure I was there to catch him in action. When we first visited the table with Shin’s paper toys, the sign above was located on top. When we realized what it was for, we proceeded to submit our names into the pile of names already entered.

Once he started drawing, I missed when he’d written my name out because I was busy taking pictures of the surroundings. Luckily, I returned to his station in time to see him put my post-it down and searched for my name. And there it was, squeezed near the crown of his THREE looking character. Meg’s name is located lower in the piece, you can check out the images below for close-ups and progress shots of his piece.

All in all, I had a great time at the party– and I’m glad I attended. I not only got to meet and witness Shin Tanaka at work, but I even met a fellow blogger and connected with several other people. If I didn’t have to wake up early, I would’ve stuck around until the end.

I’ve avoided posting about this, mostly because the upcoming O-No Sushi Bloody Edition release at Rivet Gallery will be limited to 150 pieces, and well– I really need to have it. Sadly though, I am of guilty conscious and therefore, cannot withhold the information from the general public. So, here it is. This Tuesday (tomorrow) at 12pm, Rivet Gallery will make the greyscale colorway available in store and on their online site for $35. What does this mean? You need to be awake to pick one up for yourself because they’re limited one per customer, so no muling for anyone who has a contact near the gallery. Damn it!

I’ll start off with, YAY!!! I always experience a unique joy when it comes to shows that Brent Nolasco participates in– and in this case, the joy is extended to the 4 other participants of the upcoming 5 Eyed Dragon show coming up in April at Dragatomi. The show will feature the works of some of the biggest names in the customizing world; Leecifer, DrilOne, Betso, Brent Nolasco and Southern Drawl.

I am experiencing a bout of jealousy in regards to this show. Mostly because for the past couple of months Southern Drawl has been rather quiet in the scene. Just days before the postcard for the show was leaked, I’d thrown his name out as a suggestion for a show and the person I was talking to didn’t recognize his name and it basically gave me an excuse to revisit and share some of his older munny designs. Anyway, this show is the first time in a while that he’ll be putting out a body of work– at least I hope so. Since it is five gentlemen (uh, where are the ladies?!!), I’m not sure how many pieces each artist will get to show. But the rest of the line up, includes artists who are very complementary to each other.

I can’t wait to see more photos of this show– Betso is already winning my heart with the custom on the card– I’m not entirely sure what figure he’s using for it. Anyway, if you’re in Sactown in April (the week after WonderCon), consider stopping by and giving Joanne/Ray and the rest of the crew a hug from me. <3!

This week San Francisco is hosting the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), and lucky for us locals, the Hotel des Arts is celebrating by opening their unique space to the “Into the Pixel” and “Video Game Art Show” exhibitions. Opening night is this Thursday, March 11 from 6pm – 10pm, and is free to all. The show will be up through April.

I found it surprisingly difficult to find out much about the event, as unfortunately the Hotel des Arts’ website hasn’t been updated recently. But according to Game Scenes:

In addition to the Into the Pixel exhibition on the main floor of the Hotel des Arts, all five floors of San Francisco’s ‘Art Hotel’ will be filled with artwork ‘from and inspired by video games’. … Gallery partners for this unique VIDEO GAME ART SHOW include Super7, Gallery 1988, Project One Gallery, and the START SOMA art gallery.

Joystiq also reports that the entire fourth floor will be dedicated to art from the making of EA’s “Dante’s Inferno”. The Game Scenes article also has some interesting history on the “Into the Pixel” shows, as well as some examples from last year. I’m loving this sneak peek of some art which will be shown at the Video Game Art Show, from 3 Fish Studios (my original source for the show). Eric shared the image above in his March newsletter. Keep reading for directions to the show, along with a view of one of Hotel des Arts’ rooms.

I have no idea how they’re going to set up so much video game art throughout the hotel, but I’m excited to find out! If you want to check out the five stories of video game art too, the Hotel des Arts is at 447 Bush St. (at Grant), across the street from the Chinatown Gate.

And if you can’t be here for the show but are planning a visit and want to stay in an amazing room, call the Hotel des Arts for a special reservation for one of their Painted Rooms. More pictures are on their site, but they have dozens of rooms painted by local artists like Jeremyville, Buff Monster, Sam Flores, and lots more!

Thanks to Grain Edit (a great design and illustration blog), I discovered Hey Studio and their Calendar they produced in December, which featured a new character for every day of the month. The site is in Spanish, but if you can’t read it, the images are pretty easy to understand or Google Translate does a pretty good job. I love the graphic, black-outline aesthetic, and simplified geometric shapes that tie all the characters together. And I’m a sucker for redesigning classic pop culture icons (Darth Vader, Mary Poppins, Ghostbusters?! – so awesome!). I wonder how they decide on each day’s character (CJ Parker from Baywatch??).

Plus, they instantly made me think of the Android toys by Andrew Bell that were recently released – and sold out ridiculously quickly. Now if we could just get these two together for a second series…I would buy those figures in a minute!

Note: Android figures are being released to select stores, so check with your favorites and snatch some up while they’re still available!

I thought I would share that tomorrow night, or better yet, tonight– I plan on attending Shin Tanaka’s shindig. Shin Tanaka, known as the “paper maestro” on the internets will be in town for a couple of days and what better way to celebrate the New York invasion than with a party?!  Paper toys is a medium that I’ve dabbled in the past– in attempting to put the figures together, not so much in the creation of a character– now that I have the opportunity to see Shin Tanaka live, I hope that the live art includes an insight of his well-known work with paper toys (I’ve collected the examples above for reference). I don’t really know what to expect though, the party is from 10pm-4am. Anyway, if you’re in town and want to check it out yourself, you can head on over to New York-Tokyo site and RSVP.

Also, check out Shin Tanaka’s website, if only for the design. I love his polaroid slideshows the most.

I know I haven’t posted in a while. For those who follow my twitter, you’ll note that my computer crashed during a crucial time in posting and then I proceeding to get sick. Such fun was had. Anyway, I fell behind on many aspects for a while, but I think I’m pretty caught up with the various scenes I scope out and will start with finally posting about the upcoming custom Jibibuts show taking place at Munky King Melrose next month. I’ve gone ahead and searched the internet for some of the customs surfacing on the net, so hit the jump to check out larger images and additional customs…

First up is Jason Limon’s custom (there’s a second one located on his flickr, along with sketches). I’ve shared countless times on the site that I absolutely adore Jason’s owls and the addition of the wings really make this an enchanting piece. He’s transformed a simple, yet lovely, wood figure into something otherworldly.

About two weeks ago, Noferin posted a fuzzy sneak peek of a white bunny and they just released what it was. Their contribution to their own show is an Alice in Wonderland theme. We’ve got the timely (or should it be untimely?) white rabbit, and the Queen of Hearts. I can’t wait to see close up shots of both these figures, along with 360 views. I’m especially interested in the Queen’s royal stick– what’s the official term for those again?

I’m not familiar with Kelly Vivanco, although now that I’ve seen her customs, I am declaring myself a fan. The piece on the left is only one of several customs she created. She’s taken a figure that already captured the nostalgia of childhood– and made it even more reminiscent of simpler times, don’t you think?

This duck is only a glimmer of what the lady can do. Her other custom features a frog riding what I think is a caterpillar. I love when I’m able to forget what the original figure looks like when it’s been customized.

I’m happy to also be sharing Podgypanda’s creation thanks to Clutter, who recently posted an image of his customs. The man didn’t customize just one or two, he customized a circus full! And well, rightfully so, since he created a circus themed team of acrobatic monkeys, roaring lions, the cutest balancing act, and gave the keys to the show to a panda with a moustache! I love how colorful this set is and am already wondering who will be the lucky owner. =D

I’ll finish with the obvious custom by Doktor A and a hunch– I mean, when the postcard was released, I drooled over them. His customs are the pair on the show postcard, in case you aren’t familiar with him. He will be the ruler of steampunk for a long time with all the amazing pieces he continues to deliver. Wow! Below, you’ll find a screengrab from Stella Im Hultberg’s flickr.

Stella posted this progress picture on her flickr a few days ago– and I was intrigued, but I didn’t put two-and-two together. It wasn’t until I ventured into her photostream again (yeah, I love her art that much that I continuously go through the same images) that I noticed the other Jibibut on the top right hand corner. So, now I’m very curious to see what her final piece looks like. When I saw this, I was reminded a bit of Yoskay’s faces regarding  the texture– not the actual face. She’s been experimenting so much lately– some things are much darker than before, and her sketchbook has began to feature fully featured women, not just flowing heads– that I really don’t know what the outcome is going to be.

]]> http://iheartcoolstuff.com/2010/03/we-heart-wood-custom-jibibuts-show/feed/ 0 http://iheartcoolstuff.com/2010/03/tigerbuttah/ http://iheartcoolstuff.com/2010/03/tigerbuttah/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:30:40 +0000 PodgyPanda http://iheartcoolstuff.com/?p=3841

I’m very excited to have Podgypanda not only create the adorable art on this site, but also contribute his first post to the site. Please give him a warm welcome, the goods he’s sharing are already too adorable for words. =D

I’ve been a huge fan of Becky Dreistadt for a very longtime now (through the now defunct Toykong in Auckland, New Zealand) and a few weeks ago I went along to check out her first solo exhibition, showcasing her work for an up-and-coming self produced Goldenbook called TigerButtah.

The show is now moving to it’s second location at Popup gallery in Wellington which starts Today!

“Tigerbuttah is the hand-painted work of Becky Dreistadt, a retro-pop illustrator raised in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Since re-locating to Auckland in 2008, she has worked full-time on the painted online comic Tiny Kitten Teeth and recently completed a pseudo-children’s book in the style of 50s and 60s vintage picture-books.

Each page of the book will be exhibited in sequence at Popup, with the opening reception taking place on Friday the 5th of March at 6pm! Becky has also painted three Munnys for the show and will debut her Popup exclusive print!” /via popup newsletter

Both Becky and her partner Frank are very good friends of mine, who have an intense convention circuit  this year (check out their website for circuit details!) If you’re heading to one of those cons, why not hunt Becky and Frank down? You wont be dissapointed

Click through to view photos from her Auckland exhibition, including the cover painting I snagged!

Images from NOTCOT

I’m catching up on my RSS feeds, and I’ve just spotted on both NOTCOT and Freshness Magazine some images of the new Nike Sportswear Six Collaborations project. From what I’ve gathered, Nike has created a world cup line that represent the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Africa, France and Brazil. The artists include some very well known designer toy artists; Kronk, Mister Cartoon and James Jarvis!

Image from Freshness Magazine

I’m not into Mister Cartoon’s stuff– but the last time I wrote about him on the site was when he collaborated with Vans to create the Simpsons’ sneakers. I was digging several designs but he’d created a pair of kick-arse slip-ons and I’m a total whore for slip-on vans. Anyway– although I don’t always dig his stuff– what I’ve seen so far from him in regards to this collaboration is really hitting the right spot. I bring up the subject of him being my Mexican brother from another mother because the shirt on the left has a similar looking eagle to my homeland’s flag (Mexico in case you couldn’t tell).

Hit the jump to see close-ups of James Jarvis’ pieces along with Kronk’s pieces. I agree with Jean from NOTCOT that James Jarvis’ pieces are a must have!!

The track jacket designed by Mister Cartoon. I like the font used on the back, I’m not so much a fan of the emblem on the front.  I’m sure my brother would love this for sure!

I absolutely love the England track jackets created by James Jarvis. I’ve admitted several times to being a fan of James Jarvis– and yet sadly also admit to own anything of his other than the White King Ken I got over the summer. If I had the loot– I’d have a Jarvis shrine. His characters all share this somber look without being too complicated in design and all exude COOL. The emblem on the front isn’t too loud for it’s purpose, yet the art is well recognized.

Although I’m not usually a red wearing kind of girl– I think it’s due to the “bloods” gang scare in the 90s, I’ve never let it go– I would wear this red. The letters on the back, again– although they manage to serve its purpose it catches some of James Jarvis’ playfulness. I may need to call in some favors from the UK if these are only available in their respective areas. I want!!!

Kronk is another artist who I’ve quickly become a fan of. Although I liked his gingerbread dunny– I really loved the intricate designs he later released through both the 3″ dunny and 8″ dunnies. His use of colors is also quite exceptional. The emblem design he created is not my favorite– I realize he’s primarily using the South African flag colors– but it reminds me more of something Mayan/Aztec.

I’m also not sure how I feel about the lettering on the back. I truly do have mixed feelings about it, but again, I like that he kept to the South African colors. One thing I do love though, is that the track jacket is green! Am I that big of a fan of green? Hells yeah!

Finally, Brazil’s line was created by Nunca an artist I am unfamiliar with. I am really loving the font used to spell out Brasil [better known as Brazil in English]. And the colors– the flag colors of course work so well together. Brazil also happens to be my favorite team when it comes to soccer– well other than Mexico of course.

I can’t wait to see these uniforms during the World Cup. I recommend checking out SlamxHype’s article about the uniforms as they have not only more information about the project, but do an excellent job of describing these uniform kits. You can also see photos of the uniform kits as a whole, not just the track jackets. Thanks to NOTCOT for sharing.